New York’s Great Cost Shift: How Higher Education Cuts Undermine The State’s Future Middle Class

Just as postsecondary education is becoming increasingly vital to getting a good job and entering the middle class, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many New Yorkers. State policy decisions have played a significant role in this rise by shifting costs onto students and families though declining state support. New York’s investment in higher education has decreased considerably over the past twenty years, and its financial aid programs, though still some of the country’s most expansive, fail to reach many students with financial need. Students and their families now pay—or borrow—much more than they can afford to get a higher education, a trend which will have grave consequences for New York’s future economy.

THE GREAT COST SHIFT: HOW HIGHER EDUCATION CUTS UNDERMINE THE FUTURE MIDDLE CLASS.

This brief is based on the Demos report “The Great Cost Shift,” which examines how nationwide disinvestment in public higher education over the past two decades has shifted costs to students and their families. The report outlines how such disinvestment is magnified by rapidly rising enrollments, and its effects are felt particularly acutely as student bodies become more economically, racially, and ethnically diverse.

This fact sheet focuses on New York, highlighting the trends in the state’s higher education funding over the last 20 years.

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—Robert Hiltonsmith.